SEA-BIRDS AND WADERS 
"The tail, instead of being of soft rounded feathers, as is 
the case with the English bird» has eight rigid piii-likc feathers 
on either side, thoii^^b 1 have seen specimens in which these 
stiff feathers were but seven in number. This is the most 
marked characteristic of the species, and at once determines 
the identity of a specimen: but the Pintail also has the axillary 
plumes more richly barred than its European brother — thougii. 
unless one had some of each kind laid side by side for 
comparison, the differences between the two species would 
probably pass iinobser\'ed. 
"It is only at a certain season that Snipe abound in the 
Malay Peninsula : from May to July, both months inclusive, 
it is hard to find a single bird; but abotit the middle or end 
of August they begin to arrive in Province Wellesley and 
Penang Island, extending to Malacca and the extreme south 
of the peninsula, including^ Singapore, ten days or a fortnight 
later, though they are not found in great numbers in any of 
these places until later in September. 
**However, it is impossible to lay down, a hard and fast 
rule, as the migration is much influenced by the weather; but 
it may safely be said that the great body of the Snipe do not 
come sooth until the commencement of the wet and stomiy 
period which proclaims the breaking-up of the south-west 
monsoon, 
■'Towards the end of April they return north to their breed- 
ing grounds: and 1 doubt if any remain to nest in the peninsula, 
tliough in Perak 1 have shot a few stragglers as late as the 
second week in May. 
"With reference to the habits of the Pintail, my experience 
is that, as a rule, they are not found in any number in the 
paddy-fields — that is to say, when the crops stand high; and 
though 1 once, at Penaga, on November 6, 1H77, in about 
three hours, bagged twenty-five couple on paddy-land, still 
it was the only occasion I am able to record; and then, I 
believe their presence was due to the paddy being scattered 
about in patches and much mixed up with reeds and coarse 
herbage. j 
[79] 
